As an up-and-coming executive at Deutsche Bank, Donna Milrod saw firsthand how the financial services industry braced for Y2K amid fear that the new millennium would trigger widespread computer failures.
The experience came in handy as she led efforts by Boston-based State Street to prepare for T + 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission requirement for speeding up settlement times for financial transactions. It took effect in Canada and Mexico on May 27 and in the U.S. a day later.
"It was a lot of work, but it went really, really smoothly," said Milrod, executive vice president and chief product officer for State Street and head of State Street Digital, a division launched in 2021 to help institutional investors adjust to a digital financing future.
The lessons she learned from Y2K included the value of overplanning and the need for the financial industry to come together to work through the challenge, not as competitors but as protectors of the market. "That was very similar for T + 1," she said.
The work was especially critical for State Street, given the company's lead role in exchange-traded funds, one of the asset classes affected by T + 1. To prepare, the bank created a cross-organizational project management office, while Milrod and her team worked to address all the complexities that arose from faster settlements such as basket calculations and time-zone issues.
"It was an entire enterprise-wide effort where it was an area of focus for a year, basically, to make sure that we were ready," she said. "It wasn't just about industry testing. We had to go through all of our systems, all of our services, all of our operating models."
Milrod also pushed State Street and the wider marketplace to weigh the broader implications of accelerated settlement, which led her to bring leading ETF market makers into the conversation to ensure they were also prepared.
"I'm really proud of the way the company came together, the way we engaged with our clients," Milrod said.
Milrod is no stranger to situations where change is a priority. She said she has always been attracted to opportunities and roles that offer the chance to be a change agent. It's one of the reasons she came to State Street, where she has led the bank's foray into digital finance and its efforts to become more product-driven.
Milrod described it as "a cultural change to get the balance between being purely client-driven, where you say yes to everything, versus bringing the kind of discipline of what it means to be product-driven."
The discipline involves looking more closely at product pricing and commercialization, as well as the go-to-market strategy. "We've really professionalized the way we look at product management and product development," she said.
The product-driven approach is particularly critical as State Street crafts strategies around digital assets and artificial intelligence, she said.
"We see real value in the technology, and what we're doing to lead is to be really clear about what our true north star strategy is," she said, noting that the strategy revolves around things like digital custody, tokenization and fund administration and accounting.
Milrod also has been a leader in State Street's work around diversity, equity and inclusion. The bank recently underwent a civil rights audit undertaken by national civil rights law firm Relman Colfax. Milrod is overseeing implementation of one of the audit's 10 recommendations for action — a recommendation to improve Black and Latinx representation in the financial industry.
When the bank's board decided to hold its annual off-site meeting in Saudi Arabia in April, Milrod spearheaded an initiative to convene a meeting between women business leaders in the kingdom and women board members and executives from State Street.
The bank leaders were eager to hear about progress under Saudi Vision 2030, an initiative to transform the country's business climate, including greater participation by women in the workforce. The bank also sees a role for itself in helping Saudi Arabia reach its goals around building a financial ecosystem, Milrod said. "That's another reason why we're really engaged there."
Milrod is bringing an international focus to her role as executive sponsor of State Street's internal network focused on LGBTQ+ support and advocacy. The goal is to support State Street employees in places and countries where they might not feel as comfortable to be out, she said.
In recognition of her leadership around diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, Milrod has earned a place on role model lists from INvolve, which recognizes leaders for strengthening representation and inclusion. She appeared on the Empower list in 2023 and 2024, the Outstanding list in 2023 and the HERoes list in 2022.
